This is definitely one of the most interesting studies of dictatorship that I have read. The authors conducted lots of interviews soon after Pinochet lost the plebiscite in 1989 and stepped down. This book summarizes these discussions in a well-organized framework. Separate chapters discuss the vantage points of the military, the dictator, the secret police, the legal system, the economic bureaucrats, the rich, the poor, the young, and the political opposition. I don't know of any other book with such a broad scope and so much insight into life under dictatorship.

The Chilean dictatorship tolerated no dissent and killed thousands of people, even ones who didn't dissent. One reason why this book seems unique might be that the regime was short-lived and finished peacefully. Many people who lived through it all were willing and able to tell their story. The result is an interesting portrait of a weak dictatorship where the majority of people remained content as long as their economic position was tolerable and the battle against opposition took place in the shadows (but not completely hidden from public view). But since there cannot be freedom of information, a dictator never knows how strong his support actually is. Small crises can escalate quickly and be deadly. Pinochet's bag of tricks for handling this dilemma corresponds very closely to de Mesquita's and Smith's analysis in "The Dictator's Handbook".

All in all this books provides an interesting point of comparison for any future analyses of dictatorship.

To understand Chile’s recent history, “A Nation of Enemies: Chile under Pinochet” (1993) by Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela, is enlightening. The authors have spoken to hundreds of people, from all political shades, all social classes, from which they have pitched together an interesting analysis of the Pinochet era, from how the coup came about to how the dictator ultimately lost the referendum on his presidency. In a series of focused chapters several aspects are being discussed, from the army and the secret service and their increasingly unaccounted-for actions to the complacent and spineless judiciary, the petty politicians far removed from any sense of realism, and the economists that presided over the economic miracle that ultimately collapsed. The set up of the book is a bit chaotic, and repetitive because of it, and much of the text suffers from far too many details, which would have been better left out to make the point clearer. Yet, whilst I am not sure how ‘independent’ this review really is, it provides for fascinating reading about an utterly divided country. ( )

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